Improvement in apparatus for cooling air



P. NEZERAUX.

Apparatus for Cooling Air.

Patented March H, 1873.

Witnesses.

AM. PIIO T0 unmwmmm 00. My asa /male PRO sass) UNITED STATES j PLAOIDENEZERAUX, or PARIS, FRANCE.

IMPROVEMENT IN APPARATUS FOR COOLING AIR.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 136,753, dated Maixh11, 1873.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PLAGIDENEZERAUX,

engineer, of Paris, France, have invented a Refrigerating Apparatus forAir and Gas, of which the following is a specification:

The main object of this invention is the cooling of rooms used for themanufacture of certain products, such as beer and wines. It is used alsoduring the heat of the summer for cooling the air of hospitals,theaters, restaurants, or other establishments.

Fermentable products, such as the above mentioned, and. which serve asdrinks, owe their chief quality to a slow fermentation, to produce whichthe temperature must often be lower than that of the open air. Thissubject has occupied the attention of many manufacturers, who haveproposed different means, but whose results have not been satisfactory.This new apparatus answers in every way the requirements of the case.

Description.

The figure of the annexed drawing represents a vertical section 'of therefrigerating apparatus, which is composed of a receiver of brick orstone, A, surmounted by an arch, B, in the center of which is aman-hole, G. This opening is hermetically closed by means of the lid D.E E are two chimneys, built in the walls, and which communicate with theupper part of the receiver, and have openings H H communicating with theapartments to be cooled. Two registers, I, serve to regulate the size ofthe openings H H. K is a grating, formed of iron bars, and resting on orfastened to bearers L. M is a door, which opens into the receiver belowthe grating, and which closes the entrance hermetically. N is aperfectly smooth copper plate, placed on an iron frame, and perforatedwith a number of small holes like a sieve. The air, forced either by aventilator, bellows, or equivalent means, enters by the. passage 0, andcan only pass upward, through the holes of the plate N, to spread itselfin the receiver A, whence it escapes through the chimneys and openingsH- H. P P are two suspended partitions, allowin g the escape of thewater which proceeds "from above the plate N, when the apparatus isworking, or that falling below the plate when it is at rest. Thisarrangement'permits the water to be drained off by the exit-passage Q. Ris a mass of ice, sustained by the grating K, and filling a large partof the receiver, into which it is introduced through the opening 0.

The air which is to be refrigerated is first drawn in, then forced bythe bellows through the perforated plate N into the spaces between theice, by contact with which it becomes refrigerated. From the upper partof the receiver it passes into the chimneys E E, which distributeit'through the openings H H into the rooms or apartments to be cooled.

The water of condensation proceeding from the ice spreads itself overthe plate N, and forms a thin layer or film, by passing through whichthe air is partially cooled, thus economizing ice; and the Water afterhaving been thus utilized escapes by the passage Q. This is an importantfeature of the invention.

If the air of rooms where beer or wines, &c., are kept, or where thefermentation of these products is effected, has to be refrigerated, thepassages of the blowing apparatus can be so arranged as to draw in theair of the rooms into which it is to be driven back. The economy of thisproceeding will be considerable. It will be indispensable, nevertheless,to sometimes renew the foul air, which can be effected by means of anopening in the air-inlet, and communicating with the outer air; ineither case one of the outlets must be shut and the other open.

As to refrigerating the air. of hospitals, theaters, and dwellinghouses, where the temperature ought to be moderated, it will suffice tohave the air blown through the water of wells, or of fountains of whichthe'temperature is low. It is sufficient to have the water continuallyon the plate N. a

By means of the new apparatus air can be obtained of a temperatureconsiderably less than that of the water through which it is blown; itis necessary only to lower according to convenience the registers I I,in such a manner that the air will not pass out except under theinfluence of aheavy pressure.

The air, in fact, being rewarmed by the condensation in the apparatus,and cooled again by the sheet of water, and always underthesamepressure,'will lose, when it passes out of the apparatus, a part of itsheat. In this case the ice becomes useless, but the pressure requires apair of bellows of a relative power.

The partitions P P ought, when working under pressure, to hang so fardown in their trench that the pressure in the interior of the apparatusmay be exceeded by that of the column of water resulting from thedifi'erence ofwater-level on both sides of these partitions.

The lowest level ought never to be below the bottoms of thesepartitions, since that would incur a loss of compressed andunrefrigerated air.

I claim as my iuventiom- The combination, in a refrigerating or coolingapparatus, of a horizontal perforated plate, a tube or passage forconducting air beneath the plate, and the devices described, or theirequivalents, whereby a thin film of water is maintained on the plate,for the purpose specified.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

PLAGIDE NEZERAUX.

Vito esses EMILE RICHARD, EDMOND OHIBAULT.

